Stop the PVCs

[Lovingwife1107]

As the wife of 47 year old man, I'm hoping for suggestions to help ease his PVCs.  He has experienced them for 19 years.  He has seen cardiologists, psychiatists, you name it.  He doesn't drink or smoke.  He avoids caffeine and at 6'2" weight 198.  He has been on anxiety drugs and is currently using a beta blocker.  But, nothing has helped.  There are periods where they are so intense and frequent, it is an effort just to make it through the day.  Any suggestions as to the next step?

[Momto3]

How many pvcs is your husband having?  Is he very symptomatic?  Has he tried more than one beta blocker? Inderal worked well for me.  Others have had great luck with atenolol, yet I could not take it.  Sometimes, you'll have to try more than one.  

I also took anti arrythmics, but not until I was very symptomatic and really needed treatment.  Ultimately, I had two ablations and don't have anywhere near the pvcs I had prior to the procedures.

Keep us posted and best wishes to you both.

connie

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

Hello,
If beta blockers and/or calcium channel blockers fail to improve symptoms and he cannot tolerate them with a reasonable quality of life, the next choice is an anti arrhythmic medication.  We try not to use them because the risk of cardiac events is so low with PVCs, we don't want to risk doing harm with medications.  When quality of life is bad, it is sometimes worth being more aggressive.

If he has structurally normal heart, flecainide and propafenone are often tried.  If he does not have a structurally normal heart and normal kidneys, sotalol or tikosyn may help.  If his kidneys are bad, amiodarone is sometimes used, but does have more side effects than the others.

If he wants to try one of these options, it is probably best to seek an electrophysiologist consult.  The other option if the PVCs allc come from one location is to attempt an ablation.

I hope this helps.  Thanks for posting.

[sugarpea013]

Here is the link:

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/92

[sugarpea013]

Hey there! I'm so sorry your husband is dealing with this. I'm sure for you it is a battle as well, feeling helpless and not being able to offer him more than emotional support. I just wanted to invite you over the the heart rhythm community. A lot of us over there suffer from PVC's and it's a great support group. You and your husband should check it out!

Best wishes.

~t